Finally, it’s time to claim my prize.
Not at the ceremony, but now at the prayers, when there is no celebrations, no dancing, no distractions. Everyone’s gaze is fixated on us. She’s caught, trapped with no way out. This is happening, and it’s happening now.
She’s ready.
I’ve waited such a long time for this moment when I finally get to make her mine.
She was the one who pulled the trigger, who chose me over any other man in this community, and she knows it. I can see it in her eyes, that look of betrayal … of her own heart.
She may think I’m wrong for her, but I’m the only right choice she could ever make. The only option to make all the pieces fall into place.
“Noah! What are you doing?” my father whisper-yells from the side, but I ignore him.
Natalie shakes her head, mouthing, “No,” but there’s no going back now. I’ve pointed at her, singled her out among all the girls sitting beside and in front of her. She’s the one … and she knows.
The girls around her push her up from the ground with huge smiles on their faces, despite her reluctance to stand. They look so happy for her, and I wonder if those are the girls she’s spent most of her time with while she was here. She’d better say goodbye while she still has the chance.
“Bring her to me,” I say.
An elder steps forward, and Natalie says, “No.”
The elder ignores her, and he grabs her arm, pulling her along through the crowd. “Stop,” she says, shoving the guy away. “I am not going to marry anyone.”
“The patriarch pointed at you as his choice. You should be honored,” the elder tells her.
He’s right. If only she knew what a privilege this really is. She’ll get to change the world, bend the rules as she sees fit. Even as a woman, a patriarch’s wife has more power than any of the people here. But she’ll find out soon enough.
“Are you sure you made the right decision?” Patrick leans in and whispers in my ear.
I nod. This is the only choice I could ever make. It was already set in stone the moment I found her, and there’s no going back now. But he doesn’t need to know that. None of them do.
The elder drags her toward the front, where the other girls stood just before her to accept their blessing, and she jerks free from his grip. “You’re making a mistake,” she growls at me.
My fellow patriarchs narrow their eyes at me as though they question my choice. If this is to go according to plan, I need her to shut up and do exactly as she’s told.
“Take off her robes,” I command.
“What?” she mutters, her eyes widening.
Before she can say another word, an elder rips off her white dress and reveals her naked body to the crowd. It’s painful to have to share her, painful to see the horrified look in her eyes.
I made her go through this all on purpose. It was the only way.
She won’t understand now, but she’ll learn all about it someday, and maybe then she won’t hate me as much as she does now.
She stares me down with a rage I’ve never seen before.
I flick my fingers. Two elders grab her hands and force her to release her own body and show herself to me … to us … to our community.
Nothing is secret here. Everything is laid bare for all to see.
But what I see makes my eyes widen and my lips part.
A scar … situated right on her belly.
Natalie
“A scar?” he mutters.
He didn’t notice before because we were underwater, and he was too preoccupied with fucking me. But I know he can see it now.
I scowl at him. “I told you I’m not for sale.”
“Keep your lips sealed, girl,” the elder barks at me.
“No,” Noah says, confusion marring his face as he holds up his hand. “Let her speak.”
“You’re despicable,” I say, and I spit on the floor in front of him. “Why would you do this?”
“You made a choice, Natalie,” he answers.
That’s not a response. That’s a cop-out. I’m done playing this game. Let’s see what the rest of the people here think of this.
“Don’t you people only marry virgins?” I turn my head toward the crowd. “Well, I wasn’t a virgin to begin with!”
The people gasp in shock. It’s not as scary as I imagined it being.
“Enough,” Noah says, glaring at me as if I’ve just murdered someone.
Does he not care? I thought it was important for the women here not to fuck anyone but their spouse. And here I am, not even a virgin to begin with.
Just like everybody else now, he knows … and he doesn’t even care.
He flicks his fingers at someone to the right. “Bring the red robe.”
The elder on the sidelines comes forward and throws a red robe over my shoulders, pushing me to my knees on the floor.
Noah glances at his fellow patriarchs as though to ask their approval. Then he steps off the stage and holds his hand over my head. “God blesses this union.”
“Fuck you,” I hiss under the cape.
He smiles at me, leaning over to press a kiss to my forehead. “Soon, I will … my wife.”
When he steps away, my eyes widen, and I immediately turn around to gaze at April, whose terror-stricken face makes my heart stop.
Before I know it, two elders grab me and escort me toward the door to the side. The patriarchs follow while the crowd behind us bursts out into chants. I have no choice but to keep walking, pushed ahead by the elders behind me, who watch my back. Every other step, I glance over my shoulder until I finally see them exit the building. Emmy, Holly, April … will I ever see them again?
I’m already so far away that I can barely make out their faces, but I know it’s them, because they stop to look at me. Tears well up in my eyes. I never got to tell April that everything will be fine. That I’ll get her out of here, no matter the cost. That she shouldn’t listen to Emmy or Holly because even though they mean well, they don’t know any better. That maybe in a different life … we could’ve been friends.
One final smile is all I can give her before I’m pushed away again, up the long stairs, toward the temple. This place, where the people live that everyone in this community admire, will become my new prison.
I sigh as we get to the top, and the doors open as if they were expecting me. A hand nudges my back. My feet move automatically as if they’re used to being shoved around. But this is a whole new experience for me, and even though I’m horrified, as I should be, I also can’t help but gape at my surroundings. There are beautiful, old-looking tapestries all along the dark wooden walls. Carpets line the hardwood floors, probably to protect them from damage. Along the walls, between each door, are old, green lampshades with gold stripes, and in front of me is a huge, wooden staircase. All of it looks to be from the Victorian era.
“Come with me, please.” A woman stands atop the stairs, staring me down.
I stare back while the doors behind me close, and we’re left alone. I assume she’s an elder too, but they are only allowed to interact with the patriarchs. The rest of the people are apparently inferior.
Should I turn and run? Smash in the doors and leave? Someone will inevitably be guarding it from the outside, so what’s the point?
“This place is sealed off. Trying to escape is useless,” the woman says, almost as if she can read my mind. “Now come.” She beckons me.
I let out another sigh and go up the stairs, the red cloak around my shoulders weighing me down. When I’m right next to her, she turns around and walks farther down the corridor. I follow her, the silence deafening as we cross this mansion the people here call the temple. Is this where they live? Where they look from their windows and gaze out to the people? Where they plot their deviant schemes?
Will I be spending the rest of my days locked up in this place?
I shiver at the thought.
The woman stops in front of a door and opens it, revealing a marble bathroom beyond with beautiful showers and tubs. My jaw drops, but I immediately shut it again the moment I realize she caught me in the act.
“I thought the showers were the only place—”
“You think too much,” she interjects, smiling. “Step in.”
I do what she asks, and she immediately peels away the red coat, leaving me naked in the bathroom with a mirror right in front of me, and I’m not sure I can face the woman staring right back at me.
“Wait here,” she says, and she turns around and walks off with the red robe in her hand, closing the door behind her.
My body trembles from the cold, and I’m tempted to turn on the faucet and step into the hot tub. But I don’t because I know I’m not allowed. Am I that afraid of the repercussions? Or am I just scared of what might happen if I do what I desire, if I give in to my most basic needs?
He put me here on purpose, but why? What does he want me to see … or feel?
I look at myself in the mirror, at the woman I’ve been forced to become, and I remove my hands from my body to reveal the naked truth. The scar that rests on my belly is a harsh truth I’ve long refused to face, yet it’s the only real thing right now, the only visible proof I have left of my time beyond the borders of this messed-up community.
“Admiring yourself?”
The sudden voice makes me cover myself again, and I turn around to face him.
Noah was in the doorway to the left. How long has he been watching?
“Don’t stop because of me,” he muses.
My hands ball into fists. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Because I want you to feel good, and I know you’re probably longing for a hot shower after the grueling task of cleaning all those floors.”
Of course, he’d know about that. The elders tell them everything, after all. Nothing escapes the patriarchs, which is why I must be careful around him at all times, no matter how he tries to sway me into thinking he’s here to save me.
“Besides, I’m sure that ordeal with the prayers just now was rough on you.”
“You did that,” I say through gritted teeth. “Why?”
He frowns. “I’m confused why you’re mad. You made the choice.”
“I didn’t—”
“You were the one who stepped into my Jacuzzi, remember?” He raises a brow. “You chose me.” His finger points at his own chest, and then at me. “This was your own doing.”
I shake my head. “Don’t try to fill my mind with lies.”
“It’s not a lie. I told you, you had to make a choice, and you did.”
“It’s not a choice if I only have two options to begin with,” I reply, still covering myself up.
He steps closer, forcing me to step back. “Would you have preferred to be in another man’s arms right now?” He walks up to me until I bump into the big mirror and he’s trapped me. “Do you think he would’ve treated you nicely? That he would’ve been gentle at the ceremony?”
He grabs a strand of my hair and curls it around his finger. “Who would it have been? The carpenter’s boy? The baker? A guard?”
Tears well up in my eyes at the thought of that ceremony, and how things could’ve gone if I had chosen to deny him and gone back up to the showers … and toward a fate worse than death.
He cocks his head, still holding a strand of my hair between his fingers. “Do you think you would’ve been happier with one of them?”
Swallowing away the lump in my throat, I don’t dare answer that question. The implications are too big.
Noah leans in and whispers into my ear, “Do you regret choosing me over them?”
I don’t know why, but my head slowly shakes. Just two times, but it’s enough for him to lean back and give me that same, wicked grin I’ve seen before. The one that makes goose bumps scatter on my skin.
“Good. I wouldn’t want you to feel bad when you’re in my home,” he muses, releasing my hair from his entangled grip. His eyes slide down my body, toward the scar, and my immediate thought is to cover it up again, but he grabs my hand before I can even try.
“Don’t. Don’t hide from me,” he says. “Please.”
That last word undoes me. Not because of the way he says it, but because of the sincere, pure gentleness in his eyes. That look bores a hole into my soul, forcing old wounds to reopen.
He cocks his head. “When is this from?”
I turn my head away. “A long time ago …” I don’t intend to tell him about my history. My history is a part of my soul, it’s what makes me me, and I’m not about to willingly hand it to him on a silver platter.
He grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. “Did someone hurt you?”
My brows furrow. “No.”
His eyes twitch. “Are you sure?”
“Why do you even care?”
A tepid smile forms on his lips. “I’ve always cared about you, Natalie.”
“Tsk.” I jerk free again. “More lies.”
He sighs. “If only you knew.”
He grabs my shoulders and turns me around, taking a few steps back with me as a prop until we’re both far enough away from the mirror to see us both. My entire naked body on display as though I’m a puppet and he holds all the strings.
“Look at yourself. You’re beautiful. You’re the smartest girl I’ve ever met.”
“Then you haven’t met a lot of girls,” I retort.
He laughs. “And witty too.”
“What’s your point?”
“You’re going to be a patriarch’s wife now. It’s a position of great power.”
“Why should I care?”
He stares at me through the mirror with that penetrative gaze again, that same one that could set my body ablaze. His fingers clutch my shoulders, digging into my skin. A memory of us in that Jacuzzi flashes by, and I clamp my legs together to stop myself from thinking and feeling things I shouldn’t be feeling for a man like him.
“Because … you will rule this place with me,” he says, and he wraps his arms around my body as though he owns me. His hands slide down to where my scar sits. “Look at yourself in the mirror.”
I look at him and then myself, at my body, my scar, and all that it entails.
“You’re beautiful.”
“I’m scarred, and you know that, so stop saying that,” I reply.
“It’s the truth. Scars do not make us any less beautiful. They don’t define us.”
“Stop acting like it’s not a big deal,” I say, trying to jerk free, but he won’t let me.
“Stop,” he says, his voice calm but assertive, like a command whispered into my ear. “Stop fighting. You made this choice.”
“I chose the easiest way out,” I hiss.
“No, you chose me, despite the fact that you knew you had a secret to hide. Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
My eyes widen.
“Did you think you could keep your body hidden from me forever?” His hand rests on top of my vulva now, and it’s hard, so hard to stop my heart from beating faster and faster. “Did you think I would let this slide? You attempted to use it as a weapon.”
“I thought you people only cared about virgins,” I retort.
He snorts. “Them. Not me.”
“Oh, so you’re different than them now?” I jest.
“Vastly … in every way, shape, and form,” he whispers into my ear. “They don’t know how far I’m willing to go … what I’m willing to give … to use … to get what I want.” His hand dives between my legs, nudging them apart as he toys with me, and I struggle to breathe. “And I want you, Natalie. I want you to be mine … completely.”
He slides between my folds and plays with my clit while I struggle not to give in to pleasure, but he makes it so damn hard.
“Yes, give in to me.” He licks the rim of my ear. “Let me into your heart.”
“No … I can’t,” I say. “You put me here. I could never love you.”
He grins against my ear. “You say that now, but you’ll change your mind. Just like you did when you finally joined me in the Jacuzzi.”
“I did that to save myself,” I hiss as he flicks my nub to the point of making my eyes roll into the back of my head.
“You did that because you secretly wanted to … because you’ve been dying to find out what it’s like to be with me … to know me and find out all my secrets,” he whispers. “But you won’t admit that, will you?”
He shoves a finger into me, and I gasp from surprise.
“I own you now … whether you like it or not, you’re mine, and you’ll bend to my will,” he growls as he thrusts his finger into me. Another one is added, and I struggle in place.
“Look at yourself, Natalie. What’s that face I see? That face of pure ecstasy that you wouldn’t give me before?” he says with a soft, delectable voice. “Enjoying yourself?”
I hate him. I hate him so much for doing this, but at the same time, my body wants to give in so badly that it hurts. He’s exposed my weakest points, the only thing I hate about myself, and turned it into a thing of beauty. But he doesn’t know the struggles I went through, doesn’t know the pain buried behind that scar.
In a moment of clarity, I swiftly spin around, not giving a shit to cover myself so long as I can keep him and his devilishly delicious hands at bay, and I push him away. “I’m not doing this.”
He narrows his eyes at me, a wicked grin spreading on his lips. “Natalie.”
“No, you don’t get to do this.”
“Yes, I do,” he replies. “You’re to be my wife.”
“To be?” I cock my head. That means it’s not yet happened.
“Well, first our union has to be approved by the president himself in an official Patriarchal Ceremony, but that’ll be over soon enough,” he says, licking his lips. “And then I get to have you all to myself.”
More devious fuckery. Of course.
I look around, trying to find anything to defend myself with. A bar of soap? No. A shower hose? No, he’ll never let me wrap it around his neck. What do I do?
“Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t. It will do you more harm than good,” he says, following my every move.
“You don’t know that,” I say, standing my ground.
“I do. And if it makes it any easier, none of this was an accident.”
I frown. “What are you talking about?”
A sparkle lights his eyes. “You being here is not a coincidence.”
My pupils dilate, and my lips part.
“Yes … the symbol, Natalie. Everything’s connected. You belong here.”
Tears well up in my eyes at the thought, and I shake my head. I won’t let him do this. “No, I don’t. I have a life beyond these walls. Beyond this prison.”
“What life? A life that gave you that scar?” He points at my body, and it feels like a knife cutting into me all over again.
“That is none of your fucking business,” I growl.
A half-hearted smile mars his face. “You want to be free? You learn the rules of this place … then learn to wield them and use them to your advantage.” He swallows. “That scar will not stop me from claiming what belongs to me. So wash up and get ready. I’ll have an elder’s wife assist with dressing you for the occasion.”
“What occasion?” I ask as he turns around and walks off.
“The Patriarchal Ceremony, of course.” He glances at me over his shoulder, a smirk forming on his face. “To officially become my wife. Until death do us part.”
